The Event
by Alucard1563
Summary: A story that follows the adventures of a guy named Felix in a post-apocalyptic zombie infested world
1. A Rough Day

Felix Johnson woke up from his sleep in a violent fit. His eyes quickly scanned the empty classroom in the darkness and his left hand dropped to his thigh where a 9mm laid resting in a holster that he had strapped to his leg. He pulled it out quickly and stood up with practiced ease that he had acquired over a period of time. He held the gun at the ready and made his way cautiously to the door. He undid his homemade lock and pushed open the door quickly and hopped back ready for anything that might try to force its way in. He let out a small breath of relief as the doorway was empty. He stuck his head out the door and saw that the long hallways of the school were just as dark and empty as they had been when he had gone to bed. He flipped on the flashlight attachment he had added to his pistol and walked slowly towards the doors that led to the outside world. He undid the lock that kept the push doors securely in their place and walked outside. The doors had once led to an open area with railings, but Felix had boarded them up long ago. He slowly made his way to the stairs and looked down. It was still empty. He took the left side of the stairs down, he had put grease on the steps of the right side as an added protection. He turned and looked down the rest of the small stairwell and saw that the large metal doors that kept the entrance to the stairs was still just as secure as he had left it. He sighed relaxing and slid the gun back into his holster. He rubbed his eyes gently and yawned. He hadn't had a good night sleep since the incident that had turned most of the planet into insane flesh craving monsters. He could see through the cracks in his boards that the sun was beginning to rise so he decided it was no use trying to get back to sleep. Felix walked down the rest of the stairs and used the small key hanging around his neck to open the door off to the left of the large metal one that he kept closed at all times. He pushed it open and closed it behind him as he walked out onto the deserted campus. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. He could still remember how he had hated most of the kids that went to school there, but now he would kill to have them back. Now most of them were either gone or part of the large ash pile a few miles away from the campus. He chuckled as he thought about the plans the he and his friends had made back when the world was normal. They thought that they would be ready for the end of the world if it happened, but none of them could have known that the virus would have killed them off before they even got a chance to fight back. Yet for some reason Felix hadn't caught the first stage of the virus and had been one of the unlucky few who where now forced to live in a world dominated by mindless monsters, fighting for survival every second of the day. He heard a soft groan from behind him and the shuffle of running feet and he quickly tossed himself to the side as a rotted corpse missed ripping him in half by mere inches. He hit the ground and rolled back to his feet reaching for his gun. The corpse turned with and inhuman jerk and stared at him for a moment before Felix but a bullet in between it's eyes. The corpse fell to the ground in a large heap and was still. Felix took a few deep breaths still in shock and stood up. He shook his head and scanned the campus for any other corpses that might have been roaming around and when he was satisfied he was safe he slid his gun back into its holster. "Well, this is one hell of a way to start off the day." He murmured to himself.

Felix has dumped the corpses body at the same place he had dumped all of the other ones and set it on fire. At least that way it wouldn't attract others of its kind to an easy meal. Felix took inventory of the few things that he had managed to scavenge from the nearby town as he did every morning. When he was satisfied that he was sufficiently supplied for the moment he nodded and left the class room that he had designated as a storage room. He walked down the long hallway his footsteps echoing all around him in the silence. It wasn't easy being alone, but the other alternative was being dead. He had never really trusted people to begin with, and he was confident that his decision to fend for himself was what had kept him alive after his family had succumbed to the disease. He often wondered where they were now, whether they had been put out of their misery when the National Guard had been called in, or if they were still roaming the streets somewhere in the town. He continued down the hall to a slightly smaller room and slid the key off his neck and unlocked it. The room was dim just like the others, but this had a small electric lantern in the corner. Felix walked over and flipped it on and the room was bathed in a bright white light. Hanging up on the walls on hooks were several guns that Felix had managed to scrounge up when the National Guard had been wiped out only days after their arrival. He still remembered sneaking into town that morning and finding that all of them had become food for the hungry monsters. He had taken what equipment he could from them and burned their bodies. He didn't see the point in letting them turn, it was just a waste of ammo. He pulled one of the hunting rifles that he had taken off a dead hunter a few miles from the edge of town. He had tried to make a last stand from his house, but it hadn't ended too well for him. He slung the rifle over his back on a strap that he had attached to all of the rifles and one of the tactical shotguns that hadn't been totaled in the panic of the assault. He grabbed a small box of ammo out of a bag that he had next to the lantern and turned to leave. He flipped off the lantern and closed the door making sure to lock it behind him. The last thing he wanted was for some scavenger to somehow stumble upon his weapons and steal them all out right from underneath him. He left the hallway and made his way back to the stairs where he had had his close call that morning. He made sure to double check the surrounding area before letting his guard down. He walked over to the small truck that he had gotten from one of the deceased teachers and slid into the driver's seat. He reached down and grabbed the key from its hiding place under the seat and revved up the truck. It took him only a few minutes to get to the town line. He stopped the car a few yards off the main road and made the rest of the way on foot. The corpses might be stupid, but they could still tell the difference between the living and the dead. If he drove the truck through town he would be bogged down and swarmed in a matter of moments, but going on foot he could take the small trails he had created in relative stealth. This was the sixth time he had come to the town this week and he knew the corpses and their patterns. He had noticed that even the dead fell into a daily routine after awhile and he made full use of it to his advantage. He crept silently to the first building and slipped in through the broken window that he had smashed out a few weeks ago. It was a small shoe shop that was on the verge of going out of business when The Event broke out. Felix had taken a nice pair of boots from the store after his sneakers had been ripped to shreds tearing through rubble only a week after The Event. He brought up the rifle and looked through it's sights out onto the street. It was just as crowded as ever he noticed, as the dead meandered back and forth throughout the street groaning and shuffling past each other endlessly. He slipped the rifle back over his shoulder and walked to the back of the store were a small flight of stairs lead up to the roof of the building. He pushed open the door to the roof silently and scanned it for any trace of the corpses. Then he walked over the edge of the building where he had positioned a large sheet of metal to cross over to the next building. He stepped on it cautiously and when he was sure he could put his full weight on it and walked quietly across to the other building. It had been a small law firm that had done fairly well back in the 90's. He walked across the roof over to the fire escape that lead down to the ground and climbed down it. He quietly made his way down the alleyway to the small patch of trees that would lead to the supermarket. He crouched down low and quickly darted across the tree line. The doors to the supermarket had been stuck closed after the power to the city had been shut down during the martial law that had erupted soon after The Event broke out. The glass doors had been broken when the riots started and most of the store had been looted, but when the infected rioters got inside with the uninfected ones, chaos broke out and a lot of things had been left behind. Felix pulled his pistol out of its holster and flicked on the flashlight illuminating the dimly lit store. The windows let in a good amount of light, but it was still hardly enough to give Felix piece of mind. The scattered glass on the floor crunched beneath his boots as he slowly checked each dark corner in sight. Then he made his way back to the freezers in the back of the store. Luckily the store had a backup generator that provided it with enough power to keep the freezers running. He turned the large latch that opened the door and walked inside. He was instantly hit by the wave of cold that swarmed out of the freezer. He took a deep breath of the frigid air, happy to be free of the scorching summer heat, even if only momentarily. He walked to the back of the freezer and browsed through the boxes of food until he found what he wanted. Food had stopped becoming a luxury and had become a basic survival need. Felix detested liver, but it was one of the only meats that had survived the raids. He tossed a few cans of it into his bag and turned to leave when he heard something crash outside. He quickly brought up his pistol at the ready and made his way out of the freezer quickly closing it behind him. He followed the sound of the crash to one of the nearby isles that had once contained magazines. One of the racks had fallen over on its side and was now lying on the ground. Felix looked around quickly searching for anything that would explain why it had fallen over. Then a grunt erupted from behind him and he quickly spun around in time to see one of the corpses charging at him. He set his stance to fire, but his foot got tangled up in the fallen rack and he fell to the ground just as the corpse flung itself at him. It went sailing over his head and crashed to the ground in a heap. Felix quickly stood up and realized that he had lost his gun when he fell. His pistol was lying on the floor a few feet away and the strap of his rifle had gotten snagged on the rack and was now pinned underneath it. He made a mad dash for the pistol, but the corpse was already back up on it's feet and charging at him. Felix scanned the ground for anything that he could use, knowing that he couldn't get to his pistol and fire it before the corpse was on him. Then he spotted a small crowbar lying on the ground. He lunged for it and as the corpse swung at his head and missed by mere inches. Felix brought the crowbar up fiercely and swung it like a baseball bat at the corpse's head. The sharp end of the bar sunk into the corpse's head with a sickening crunch. Felix let it go and the corpse stumbled back the crowbar still sticking out of its head. It glared at him for a moment as if knowing that he was going to die. Then it fell back to the ground and twitched violently for a second before going still. Felix took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down. He had just had a close call and he knew it. That could have easily been him on the ground, becoming lunch for the corpse. He reached over and yanked the crowbar out of the corpses head and wiped it on a nearby rag that had been taken from the bathroom department. He looked it over and slipped it on a strap of his cargo pants. Then he walked back over and collected his weapons and his bag of food. His trip back to the shelter went without incident and as night began to fall he turned in for the night, more than ready for a good nights sleep.

Felix would have loved nothing more than to have a good night's sleep, but it seemed that fate had other plans. He awoke suddenly just as he had the night before and yet again scanned his room. He pulled his pistol out of its holster and yet again went out into the hallway. As he opened the door that would lead to the stairs though, he heard footsteps. He caught his breath and brought his pistol up. _How the hell did they get through the door_, he thought to himself. He slowly and quietly made his way to the stairs. As he reached them he could make out a figure in the darkness. He flipped on the light on his gun and pressed his finger on the trigger, but something stopped him from firing. Standing in his crosshairs wasn't a corpse, but another human being. "Freeze!" he called, "Don't move or I'll shoot!" the figure stopped dead in it's tracks. "Alright, now turn around and let me see your face." He said trying to appear calm. The figure slowly turned around and Felix saw that it was a girl. She had short brown hair and a pair of piercing green eyes. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked. The girl shook her head slowly. "First, you answer my question: Are you gonna shoot me or not, because I don't feel like playing 20 questions if you're just gonna shoot me afterwards." She said. Felix kept a steady hand and shook his head. "No, I'm not going to shoot you as long you answer _my_ question: Who are you and why are you here?" he said. The woman sighed. "That's two questions you know." She chuckled. Felix loosened his grip on the gun a little more, deciding there was no point in treating her as a serious danger. If she did try and attack him he would have more than enough time to put her down. "Okay, really, do you want me to shoot you?" he asked in a voice that showed his confusion. Here this girl was at gun point and she was making jokes. "Listen, why don't we just put the gun down and have this conversation in a civilized way?" she asked shrugging. Felix smirked in the darkness and lowered the gun. "Alright, but first you gotta get rid of any weapons you have on you right now." He said. The girl looked at him like he was crazy. "Hun, think about what you just said," she chuckled, "would you really get rid of your weapons when you've got a guy with a gun ready to shoot you?" Felix rolled his eyes. "Listen, I'm not going to shoot you okay?" he asked her. The girl took a few steps forward. "I'm I'm supposed to take your word for that, huh?" she said. Felix shrugged. He had to admit she had a good point. "Touché." He said sliding his gun back into his holster. "There, now that's much better." The girl said. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a fire would you, I'm freezing."

Felix had made the small fire pit in preparation for the winter in a few months, but he figured that it would do well to test it out ahead of time. He had found hundreds of matches throughout the town, and fire wood was by no means in short supply. He had made a small ring out of large rocks and lit the wood. The classroom was tall enough so that the fire wouldn't touch the roof, and well ventilated enough so that the smoke easily drifted out into the night. The girl sat on the opposite end of the fire warming herself and sighing in relief. "My god, that is soo much better." She said rubbing her hands next to the flame. "You have no idea how cold it is out there at night." Felix sat there running his eyes over her checking for anything that she could use as a weapon. She had on a large hiking pack that she had left off to her right, but she also had on a large coat that covered most of her body. She could easily have something hidden in the folds of it. "So" Felix asked, "are you going to answer my questions, or are we going to sit here all night doing nothing?" the girl nodded. "Yeah sorry, its just been so long since I could relax, that I guess I got a little carried away. My name's Amalia." She said extending a gloved had to him. He took it and shook back. She had a strong grip. "And as for what I'm doing here" she said lying down on her pack and looking up at the ceiling, "I was trying to find a place to stay for the night and here I stumble across this perfectly fortified building. It was a little too good to pass up." Felix nodded. "Well, just for the record my name's Felix. How did you manage to get past the door?" he asked. Amalia grinned. "Well, being able to pick locks has its perks nowadays." She said. Felix just looked at her for a second. "You picked the lock on my door?" he asked shocked. She nodded. "Yeah, my dad wasn't exactly involved in the most legal activities and he passed on some of his tricks to me." Felix nodded more than a little impressed. "So Amalia…" he said. She cut him off before he could go any further. "Do me a favor and just call me Mal. Amalia's just a little too girlie for me." She said. Felix nodded. "Okay then, Mal have you heard anything from anybody recently?" he asked. Mal sighed and sat up. "Well, I was working on the hope that Vancouver was still around, but no, I haven't heard anything recently." Felix nodded. "So what's in Vancouver?" he asked. Mal yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Well, if you believe the reports they've got a zombie free compound up there. Food, shelter, protection, the whole shebang." She said. Felix had heard stories about Vancouver before the radio station went dead for the last time, but he had figured that it had gone to hell just like all the other "zombie free" zones. "So how can you be sure that this place is still standing?" he asked. Mal shrugged. "In all truth I can't, but really what else have I got to rely on. I mean, you look like you've got a nice little place set up here, but what are you gonna do when you run out of supplies. I mean, I get this place has got a lot of stuff on hand, but I mean eventually its gonna run out. These guys up in Vancouver have got a thriving city going. Crops, electricity, a steady flow of fresh water, I mean they've got what it takes to keep themselves alive for a really long time." She said. Felix sighed and yawned also. "Well, I guess we'd both better call it a night huh?" Mal said laying her head on her pack. Felix nodded in agreement and laid down and closed his eyes. No less than two minutes after he closed his eyes Felix was startled by the sound of one of his homemade alarms going off. He had tied a large group of cans along the edge of the campus to indicate if a corpse happened to stumble upon the campus. It wasn't a full proof idea as that morning had proven, but it was still a solid idea. Mal quickly sat up and looked over at him. "What was that?" she asked. Felix grabbed his gun out of it's holster and flicked on the light. "Alarms, it looks like we've got company." He said. Mal stood up and followed him out the door. Felix quickly walked over to one of the boards that had a larger gap in it so that he could see out. He inhaled sharply when he saw how many of them there where. He usually never saw more than one of two corpses in one spot, but now there must have been at least 30. All inside the campus and making their way to the large metal door that was on the stairs. "Son of a bitch!" he yelled quickly hurrying off to his gun room. Mal took her own look out the window and he saw her go slightly paler. "My god…" she trailed off. "Felix, I hope you've got a plan!" she called after him. He quickly unlocked the door and hurried inside with Mal right behind him. As he flipped on the lantern she couldn't help but grin. "How the heck did you get your hands on this much firepower." She asked excited now. Felix yanked the shotgun off the wall and tossed it to her. "When they called in the National Guard, they got pretty much wiped out. Their assault rifles were all bone dry of ammo, but the other guns seemed to work fine. I took what I could and scrounged around for the rest." She nodded and pumped the shotgun loading a round into it. Felix slung the hunting rifle over his shoulder and hurried out of the room. Just as they came out there was a loud crash near the stairs and Felix turned just in time to see at least ten of the corpses come barreling up the stairs. Half of them slipped back to the bottom on the grease he put on the stairs, but the others came up without any issue. He fired the rifle and the first one of the pack flew back with only half a head. Mal quickly rushed up next to Felix and aimed at the nearest corpse. She fired and the body fell to the ground, its head nothing more than a few bits of flesh. They quickly ran further down the hall trying to get a better shooting point. Felix had dropped a bag of marbles that he had grabbed shortly before they left the room and the corpses fell quickly to the ground. Felix turned on a dial and fired off three rounds that all found there mark. He heard Mal curse as the boards of one of the windows behind them was ripped off in a loud crash. She dropped the shotgun and reached behind her back and pulled out two blades out of her coat. They were both about a foot and a half long each and seemed to be made out of a light but durable metal. She sliced at one of the oncoming corpses and cut it's head clear in half with ease. Then she turned to the next one and sliced off one of it's outstretched arms before decapitating it in a quick strike. Felix fired off a few more rounds at the oncoming corpses and they all fell to the ground in heaps of flesh. When the gun ran out of ammo he tossed it aside and drew out his pistol. He fired quickly and precisely at the corpses and they dropped one by one. He dropped the empty clip to the floor and slapped in another one in less than a second. As the smoke cleared Felix saw that no more of the corpses where coming up the stairs. He turned back to Mal, who had five corpses of her own lying on the floor. She sighed and tossed her blades aside. "Well that was fun, huh?" she said obviously tired. Felix let out a few quick breaths to calm himself down then went to make sure that all of the corpses where really dead and not just faking. When one of them moved as he kicked it he planted a quick bullet into its head. Mal shook her head and looked over at him. "I've never seen that many of them in one place before, why do you think they came after us like that?" Felix shook his head. "No clue," he said, "But whatever the reason staying here isn't an option anymore. They know I'm here and if they had caught me on my own, I would have been an easy meal." Mal grinned. "So I guess you owe me for saving your butt huh?" she said. Just then another of the corpses flung itself through the broken window and made a rush at her. Felix fired quickly more out of reaction than thought and the corpse had it's brain splattered against the wall as the force of the bullet drove him into it. Mal just sat there realizing that she could have easily just died. "No, I'd say we're pretty much even." Felix said grinning. Mal turned and looked at the corpse that had almost torn her in half. "Well I'm glad you find this humorous, I could have been killed!" she said. Felix shook his head still smiling. "Nah, I've only known you for a few hours and I can already tell you too stubborn to die." He said looking around at the carnage. Then he looked back at her. "So, what was that you were saying about Vancouver?"


	2. Fear

Felix hefted the backpack on his shoulders as he walked down the deserted back road. Mal was off to his left humming softly to herself. _Well at least one of us is enjoying ourselves_, he thought. His backpack had been filled with enough food to last both of them a month and almost all of the ammo for his pistol and rifle. The crowbar that he had found at the supermarket was hanging off the loop on his pants again and it thumped against his thigh every time he took a step. All in all, he was bogged down with weight and he was miserable. The hot midsummer sun was beating down mercilessly and he felt beads of sweat running down his neck and fly swarmed his head in mass groups. He shifted his rifle on his shoulder and thought of something to say to try and start a conversation. At this point anything was better than wallowing in his discomfort. Felix's eyes drifted to Mal's back where the hilts of the blades that she carried were just barely visible. He cleared his throat and sped up a little to catch up to her. "So," he said, "where'd you get those swords at?" she grinned and looked over at him. "I knew you'd bring that up eventually." She said. Felix shrugged. "Well, it's not like you see women randomly lugging around swords every day." He said. Mal sighed and shifted her shoulders. "Well on top of a million other things, my father was a sword enthusiast. He had more types of swords than I could count, and when all hell broke loose these were the first things I found that I could use without killing myself. I can't remember were he said they were from, but they were his favorite. Light, durable, and with a nice bit of power behind it, lethal." She laughed grimly to herself. "The dumb bastard. He got drunk when things went crazy and figured that he could take those things on by himself. He was dead in a matter of minutes." Felix suddenly felt guilty for bringing up the topic. "I'm sorry about that." He said. She shook her head. "Don't be, he got what he deserved. An alcoholic, abusive, constantly into something illegal. That was why my mom left him, she couldn't take it anymore. She tried to take me with her, but he threatened to kill both of us if we tried anything. She was working on getting ahold of the cops to come and get me when it all went down. I barricaded myself in the house until he realized that no one was coming to get me. After that I took what I could and made a run for Vancouver. I'd been on the road about three weeks before I ran into you." She said. She looked up at the sky for a moment. "I guess it's a good thing I did. I lost my only gun a few days ago and I didn't think I'd be able to make it to Vancouver on my own anyway." Felix nodded. "Well, I'll make sure we both make it there in one piece. I promise you that." He said. Mal smiled. "Well, those are some pretty big shoes to fill there hotshot. You sure you can back that up?" she asked. Felix smiled back. "Oh, I'm pretty sure I can do that. I mean how hard can it be to fight our way through hundreds of undead monsters right?"

They walked for a few more hours until they found a small gas station on the side of the road to take cover in for the night. Felix pushed open the door quietly and scanned the room with his pistol. Mal followed behind him shotgun in hand. They walked to the back of the station looked around. Suddenly a crash erupted behind them and they both turned quickly guns ready to open fire on anything that moved. Out from underneath an overturned rack darted a raccoon. It scurried out the door of the gas station and made a bee-line for the tree line. Both of them erupted in laughter and let down their guard. They dragged one of the racks over to the door and propped it so that nothing could get in throughout the night. The windows were barred which would protect them for the most part. Felix grabbed the small lantern he had taken from his gun room and turned it on low as night began to fall. He climbed over the main counter and looked around. A cash register was securely shut and it was surrounded by lottery tickets and cigarette packs. He grabbed a roll of the lottery tickets and tossed them over to Mal who was lying on her side staring into the lantern. She caught them a moment before they would have hit her in the face. "Hey, Mal" Felix called, "you think we got a shot at winning. I mean nobodies playing anymore so we've got to be a shoe in." She rolled her eyes and tossed the roll behind her. Then she stood up and walked over to the counter. She reached down on the ground and pulled up a wrapped piece of beef jerky. "We might as well make use of what we've got, I don't think anyone's gonna be using it." She ripped off the wrapping and ripped a piece off the jerky. Felix turned and grabbed a few packs of cigarettes from the back wall. Mal looked at him for a moment in confusion. "Please don't tell me you smoke?" she asked starting to show signs of revulsion. Felix quickly shook his head. "No, I can't stand the habit either, but they might be worth something if we need to trade for supplies." Mal shrugged, she had to admit it was a good idea. He tossed his pack over next to the lantern and hopped back over the counter. He bent down and grabbed a piece of jerky for himself and plopped down next to Mal around the lantern. He sighed and rubbed the small of his back. "Christ, my back is killing me." He groaned. She chuckled and pushed him over lightly. "Oh please, stop being a baby. If I can do it you can too." She said. Felix didn't bother trying to sit up knowing that doing so would only make him even sorer. "Yeah, well you've been at this a while now. Besides, you're not lugging as much stuff as I am." He said. She lay down next to him and smiled. "Well, who was the genius that decided that we should carry enough food to feed a small army?" she said. Felix grunted and rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you'll thank me for that one later." Mal closed her eyes and rolled over away from him. "We'll see," she said, "we'll see." Felix closed his eyes and was asleep in a matter of seconds.

The sun peaked over the rack and through the window and struck Felix straight in the face. He opened his eyes slowly and almost rested. He put his hand up to cover his eyes from the sun and looked around. Mal was still asleep next to him and the lantern had gone out sometime during the night. He cursed silently to himself for not turning it off before he'd gone to sleep. He walked down the aisle until he found a replacement battery. He changed them out and shoved the lantern back into his pack. Mal stirred from her sleep and sat up. "Hmm," she asked sleepily, "we're leaving already huh?" Felix shrugged. "Well I was going to wait until you woke up, but I guess I don't have to worry about that now." Mal sighed and stood up stretching. "Alright, but let's eat something first, I'm starving." They grabbed a few pieces of jerky and inhaled them within a few minutes. Then they shoved the rack out from in front of the door and walked back out onto the road. "So Felix," Mal said, "which one of your parents came up with that name?" she said teasingly. Felix looked back at her. "Well, I've got a better question," he replied, "who in their right mind name's their daughter Amalia? I mean that doesn't even sound like a real name." Mal chuckled. "Now you see why I don't use it?" she asked. "You on the other hand…" she said trailing off. Felix sighed in defeat; he had never been much good at arguments, especially with women. They continued to walk for a few more hours talking about random things from their pasts, their friends, their family, their hobbies, and so on. Felix found that he had a lot more in common with her than he had originally thought. As they walked they came to a sign that signified the end of the Florida state line. "Well," Felix asked, "you ready for this? After we cross this there's no turning back." Mal nodded. "Yeah, what else are gonna go back to?" she said walking past the sign and into Georgia. Felix nodded and walked after her.

"What do you mean we're gonna have to cut through the city?" Mal asked half in surprise half in anger of Felix's own stupidity. Felix shook his head. "Mal, look at this map, there's no other way to get around it." He said pointing at their location on a map that they had picked up a few miles back. "If we try and go around it that'll take a week to get back on track. We'll be cutting a big chunk out of our journey if we cut through here." Mal shook her head. "No listen Felix," she said, "if we go through there we might not come back out. That place has got to be a zombie paradise, we won't have a chance." Felix handed her the map. "Well then, you find us a way to get around it that doesn't put us in even more danger." She looked at it for a moment before tossing it back at him and cursing. "I swear to God Felix, if you get us killed…" she said walking away. Felix rolled the map back up and slid it into his pack. Then he grabbed his rifle off the ground and slung it over his shoulder. "Mal, we'll be fine. I mapped out the perfect route through here when I got the map. I'll be surprised if we run into even one zombie." He said. Mal shook her head and followed behind him. The edge of the city showed evident signs of chaos: crashed cars, long dead bodies, belongings scattered everywhere. Whatever had happened there it hadn't been pretty. Off to Felix's left a body was being picked clean by a group of vultures. One of them ripped out the man's eye and swallowed it in one gulp. Felix couldn't help but shiver. The main highway branched off into several different roadways that wove their ways throughout the city. At the first one, Felix followed it to the nearest building. He walked quickly around it to one of the alleyways that inhabited the city like ants in between the large buildings. He quickly darted down it with Mal keeping pace with him the whole way. They wove their ways between the alleys for a few miles before they got a good look at the road. Felix could see through the scope on his rifle that the undead swarmed the main street of the city just like they had back in his town. He hummed thoughtfully to himself. They must have had a reason for doing that. Suddenly a cry of hunger came from behind them. Mal turned quickly and fired at the zombie that was just a foot away from her. It went flying back and landed on the ground. Felix turned pale as the same sound came from behind him. The zombies on the main road had heard the scuffle and were now making their way to them. He turned and fired a round off into the crowd and started running in the opposite direction. Mal was right behind him. She knew without turning around that they were not in a good position. They hurried down the alleyway trying to find a place they could duck into and take shelter, but none presented themselves. Felix fired at a nearby zombie and sent it crashing to the ground in mid-leap. Behind him he could hear the sound of several feet chasing them. He didn't dare turn around. Further down the alley he could see two zombies trying to cut them off and he fired two quick rounds and hit the first one on the head and the second in the shoulder. The wounded one fell to the ground and Mal slammed her boot into it's face as they went past it. They came out onto one of the branching roads and looked around. Felix turned as a group of zombies came from their left and fired into the group. He cursed as his rifle clip went dry and he flung it over his shoulder and pulled out his pistol, but it was too late. One of the zombies had covered enough ground and was only a foot or so away from him. There was no time for him pull up and fire his weapon and Mal was looking in the other direction. Then just moments before the zombie would have ripped into him, it's head exploded in a haze of blood and gore. It fell to the ground and Felix looked around quickly. Mal had turned at the sound of the gunfire and saw the dead zombie lying in front of Felix. "That wasn't you was it?" she yelled over the commotion. Felix shook his head. Then a sharp whistle cut through the air and they both turned towards the sound. They could both make out a shape on top of a building waving it's arms at them. They both ran as fast as their legs could carry them as the mysterious gunman fired again and picked off a zombie that had caught up with them. They dove into another alleyway and followed it to a small fire escape that lead up onto the building where the gunman was. Mal went up first as Felix fired at the zombies that were in range. Then he quickly climbed up behind Mal and pulled up the ladder. They climbed up the ladders of the fire escape until they got up to the roof. There they both fell to the ground and breathed heavily for a moment until the figure came over to them. He had a large leather coat on with it's hood pulled up. On his face the gunman had a pair of dark goggles and a bandana covering his mouth and chin. The man pulled off the goggles and slid down the bandana gently setting his rifle on the ground. He had light blue eyes and a light brown five o' clock shadow. "Well, looks like you fellas had one hell of a close call." He said. Felix could easily make out a British accent. "Thanks," he said standing up and shaking the man's hand, "you saved our asses back there." The man grabbed his rifle back off the ground and looked down the fire escape. The zombies were crowded around it yelling at the air. Then he turned back to Felix and Mal. "Sorry," he said, "where are my manners. The name's Liam." He said. Felix nodded and grabbed his own rifle off the ground. "My names Felix and this is Mal." He said pointing over at her. She was slowly getting off the ground and shot Felix a glance of hatred. "I told you this was a bad idea, but no" she said practically yelling at him, "you had to do things your way and it nearly got us both killed!" Liam walked over and stepped in between the two of them. "Well, I'm sorry to break up your little skirmish here, but we've got a bit of a problem. Thanks to you two and your friends down there, we've got to find another way off this building." He said. Felix sighed and looked around. "Okay," he said analyzing the rooftop, "it looks like we might be able to jump over to the building over there." He said pointing over to a grey building over to their right. Liam tilted his head slightly and gauged the distance. "I think you might be right." He said walking over to it. Felix and Mal followed him over to the edge of the building. Liam nodded and turned back to them. "Yeah, it looks about right." He said. Then he turned over to Felix. "You first mate." He said. Felix turned to him suddenly. "Wait a minute, why me?" he asked. Liam shrugged. "Well according to the lady over here, it's your fault all of this happened, so you get to go first." Felix shook his head. "Alright, alright, come on Mal let's go." He started walking towards the edge when he noticed that Mal hadn't acknowledged him. He turned and saw that she was just standing there with a pale face. "Mal, what's wrong, let's go." He said. Mal just stood there and shook her head. "I-I can't do it Felix." She stuttered. "I just can't." Felix walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Mal what's up, are you scared of heights or something?" he asked. She nodded slightly and he could feel her tremble as he put his hand on her shoulder. He lowered himself a little to look her in the eyes. "Mal, listen to me" he said seriously, "if we don't leave now those things are going to find a way up here and we're all going to die." Mal just shook her head. "I can't do it." She said softly. He took a deep breath. "Listen Mal, I promised you that I'd get you to Vancouver alive. I'm not going to break that promise now, we're gonna do this together all right?" he said. Mal just looked at him. "We're going to both jump together, alright, you don't have to do it alone." He said. He walked back over to the edge and tossed his pack over to the other roof. It landed with a dull thump. Then he walked back over to Mal and took hers off her and tossed it over as well. Then he walked back over to her and took her hand. "Alright Mal, you ready for this?" he asked. She shook her head. "We're going on three alright Mal, on three we're gonna jump." He said. She gripped his hand tighter and nodded biting her lip and closing her eyes tightly for a moment. "One… Two…Three!" he yelled. The two of them ran for the edge of the building and jumped. Felix felt Mal's grip on him tighten even more, and he was surprised at just how strong she really was. They landed and their legs hit the roof. They both fell down on impact and rolled for a moment before coming to a stop. When he looked over at her, Mal was crying fiercely. He crawled over to her and took her in his arms. "Hey, it's all right," he said in a hushed comforting voice, "we did it. We're okay now." He turned as Liam followed them to the roof lugging his rifle with him. Felix looked over at his lying were it had fallen when they landed. He made a mental note to go and reload it once Mal had calmed down. They sat there for a moment as Mal continued to cry. Finally her cries turned into sniffles, and then she finally composed herself enough to keep moving. "Alright," she said the adrenaline now draining out of her body, "let's get out of here." Felix nodded and let her go. She stood up and wiped a few lingering tears off her face and walked over to pick up her pack. Felix took a few rounds out of his pack and reloaded his rifle as Liam walked over to the door that would lead into the building. He tugged on it for a moment and when it didn't budge he turned over to Felix who was walking up behind him. "We've got another problem, it's locked." He said grimly. Felix yanked the crowbar off the loop on his pants and drove it into the door. It smashed through without problem and he yanked back with a strength that he didn't know he had. The door ripped open with a large crack. Liam stared looking at him for a moment. "Well, I guess that's one way to do it." He said surprised. Felix turned and Mal was right behind him her hands still trembled, but the rest of her body acted as if nothing had happened. Felix had to admit that she was stronger than he had given her credit for, both inside and outside. Most people wouldn't have jumped in the first place and even fewer would have recovered as fast as she had. He led the way down the staircase to the bottom floor of the building. It was an office building and the large glass doors that lead out onto the road had been smashed out. A straggling zombie was roaming around the wreckage in a mindless daze. Felix brought up the crowbar and slammed the blunt end of it into it's head. The zombie fell to the floor without a sound as the crowbar smashed in his skull. They quickly hurried out of the building watching the zombies smash their way into the building where the three of them had been just moments before. They ran down the street quietly without running into anymore of the undead. The edge of the city was a welcome sight for the three of them as they hopped off one of the branching roads. "Wait, you two mind waiting here for a second?" Liam asked walking off to the right, "I've got to go get my stuff." Felix and Mal agreed to wait for him. He came back a few moments later with a small backpack flung over his shoulder. "Okay, let's go then." He called catching up with them. "So," he asked, "where are you two headed?" Felix turned to him and offered him the map. "Well, you know where Vancouver is right?" he asked. Liam looked over the map and handed it back to Felix. "Yeah, what about it?" he asked. Felix stuffed the map back into his pack. "Well, there's a chance that they might have a zombie free compound taking in survivors. We're heading out there to see if it's true." He said. Liam nodded. "And what if the reports are wrong?" he asked. Felix didn't say anything. If the reports were indeed false, then he had no clue what they would do. They had no choice but to believe that the reports had been accurate.

The three travelers found a small house on the outskirts of the city to spend the night in. Liam went in first and cleared out all of the rooms before Felix and Mal followed him in. Liam walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He cursed silently and walked back into the living room where Felix and Mal where shoving one of the couches up against the door. "Wait a minute; I was going to sleep on that tonight!" Liam protested. Felix shook his head. "No, the windows can't be blocked so it's too risky to sleep on the first floor. We're sleeping upstairs, that way if we get attacked in the middle of the night they can't get the jump on us." Liam sighed and looked longingly at the couch. They climbed the stairs and Liam crawled into the bed that was in the master bedroom and left Felix and Mal with the guest room. The walls were painted a horrendous shade of yellow and the bed was a sickly shade of green. "Well, I guess these people didn't get to many visitors." Felix chuckled. Mal smiled and tossed her things on the floor. Felix laid his down on the floor and looked in the closet. He found a small blanket and tossed it down by his things. "You can get the bed tonight," he told Mal, "I don't want to get into too deep a sleep if something happens tonight." Mal nodded reluctantly and crawled into the bed yanking off her trench coat. It was the first time Felix had seen her without it on and the first time he had realized that she was wearing nothing underneath it but a bra. She looked at him laughing. "What, you never seen a girl in a bathing suit before, it' pretty much the same thing." She said pulling the blanket over her. Felix chuckled and laid down on his pack pulling the light blanket over himself and closed his eyes. He waited in the darkness to fall asleep, but couldn't do it for some reason. Finally he gave up and sat up. He noticed that Mal was doing the same thing. She looked over at him in the darkness, the room only illuminated by the dim light from the moon. "Can't sleep either, huh?" she asked. He shook his head. "No, I keep thinking about how I almost got us killed. It was stupid to try and force our way through there." Mal shook her head and slid out of the bed. "No, you were one hundred percent right. It would take too long to go around the other way and more dangerous heading closer to Atlanta. You made the right call." She said. "Me on the other hand I was just too damn weak." He could hear her voice straining again. "I was too weak to do anything and I nearly got all three of us killed. All because of my stupid fear, I nearly got us fucking killed." He could tell that she was crying again. He stood up and walked over to her and sat on the bed next to her. "Listen," he said, "you were braver than anyone I've ever seen." She scoffed in disbelief. "Yeah, sure" she said the self loathing evident in her voice. "No, I'm serious," he said, "you were scared, but the important thing is that you got over it and pressed on. I don't know anyone that could have done that and regained their composure as fast as you did. That was amazing." She looked out the window at the moon for a moment before speaking again. "You made a promise to keep me safe right?" she asked, "Well I'm going to make you a promise." Felix looked up at her. "I promise that I'll never be weak like that again, I promise that I'll be just as brave as you are no matter how bad things look." Felix stood up and squatted down in front of her. "You don't have to do that" he said, "no one here is blaming you for that." She bit her lip and looked down at him. "I blame myself though. Every time I get in danger or a bad situation I panic and get scared and I'm tired of it." Felix could see the glint of a tear in the moonlight and wiped it off her face. "Everyone gets scared, there's no shame in that." He said. Mal smiled. "Well, I'll take back my promise if you take back yours." She said. Felix grinned and didn't say anything. "Yeah, that's what I thought." Mal said.


	3. Mouse

Felix and Mal woke up to the fierce sound of gunfire. Felix flew up from his spot on the floor clutching his weapon and Mal was already out of the bed and flying out of the room. The first floor was empty, but when they heard a triumphant laugh from the backyard they quickly moved to the back door and into the gated backyard. Liam stood in the middle of the yard with a smoking pistol and a dead chicken hanging in his hands.

"These guys had chickens," he exclaimed when he saw them come out, "I haven't had anything fresh other than squirrel in ages. This is bloody fantastic… anybody in the mood for eggs?"

Mal and Felix couldn't help but laugh at the sight of it all.

Liam had cooked the chicken and the eggs with a frying pan from the kitchen and some tin foil that he found raiding through the kitchen. The eggs needed salt and took forever to cook, but Felix was happy to have a break from the monotonous foods that had kept him alive the past month and a half since the outbreak had started. It had always struck him as startling just how fast civilization had broken down. Cities had been wiped off the map in a matter of hours as the disease spread from one host to another killing and infecting everything in its path. He still remembered being held up in the school, trying to make things as safe for himself as he could in the third week since the outbreak went global. The National guard choppers flew over the horizon and he thought that he was saved only to be horrified a day later to find out that they had all been wiped out or fled. Although deep down he knew that there had been very few, if any, who had done the latter.

Liam hummed to himself as he stuffed the last piece of his egg into his mouth. "Well, these chickens look a little scrawny," he said with a mouth full of egg, "but I think that if we can get a fire going tonight I can cook them up nicely."

Mal's stomach rumbled. "Well my stomach won't complain, I just wish we had something else with it." She said.

Felix sighed. "Yeah, I really miss barbeque sauce."

All three of them heard the grunts from beyond the fence. Liam sighed and got to his feet. "Really, you fucks can't even give us one day?" he asked, "I mean seriously, this gets old real fast."

He grabbed the frying pan up and tossed it back and forth in his hands. "You know I've always wanted to try this." He murmured to himself.

Felix grabbed his crowbar off the ground and Mal grabbed her swords and they slowly made their way out of the gate. Four of the corpses shambled their way towards them moaning and snarling.

"Well, I've got the one on the left." Felix said rolling his shoulder to loosen up.

Liam pointed the pan at the corpse in the middle. "That bugger there is mine." he said.

Mal whirled one of her swords in her hands. "Oh thank you gentleman, leave the girl to handle two at once. You both must have been a huge hit with the ladies, being so chivalrous and all." She said mockingly.

The three advanced together and moved as a unit. Felix slammed the edge of his crowbar into the first corpse and sent it smashing to the ground before finishing it off. Liam hefted the pan over his head and smashed it down on the corpse with enough force to dent the pan.

He gave it a sideways look and smiled. "Well, that's actually works pretty well I have to say. And people always told me cartoons didn't teach you anything."

Mal made quick work of the other two slicing off the arm of one corpse and stepping out of the way of the other as it lunged forward. She spun and decapitated the first one armed corpse, before wheeling around and executing the other stumbling one.

And just as simple as that they had dispatched the first real threat of the morning.

"Why was that so simple?" Felix asked looking around to make sure there weren't more corpses walking around.

Liam shrugged. "Who knows, maybe they take breaks on Fridays?" he joked.

Mal looked at him confused. "I thought today was a Saturday?"

Liam rolled his tongue around in his mouth and looked away before shrugging. "Well, there goes my theory out the window then."

They were about to head back into the house to grab their gear when they heard a small whimper from the bushes next to them. Mal and Felix exchanged looks and walked slowly towards the brush.

"Careful guys, we don't know what's in there." Liam said warningly, he still clutched the frying pan in his hand.

Mal nodded to Felix and she quickly pulled back the brush as Felix raised his crowbar, but stopped in mid-air.

Cowering on the ground with her head tucked between her legs was a small girl. She looked up at Felix with big brown eyes and started crying.

He sighed and put away the crowbar as Mal slowly reached in for the girl. The girl jerked away and crawled away from Mal's hands.

"Hey, it's okay sweetie," Mal said softly, "We're not going to hurt you I promise."

The little girl looked at her with the tears still running down her face and said nothing.

"Do you have a name?" Mal asked.

Again the girl sat staring at her and said nothing.

Mal sighed and looked back at the other two. "Any ideas on how to get her out?" she asked.

Liam tossed aside the dented frying pan and walked back towards the house. He came back a moment later with a wrapper in his hands.

Felix noticed with interest that it was a Butterfinger.

Liam muttered to himself and shook his head. "For all I know this could be the last candy bar in the world and I can't believe I'm doing this. Candy gods, please forgive me."

He gently set the Butterfinger down in the grass and stepped back. It took a moment, but eventually the girl crawled out of the bushes and over to the candy bar. She pulled open the wrapper and gave the chocolate a tentative bite before quickly devouring it.

Liam sighed. "Oh that was a little painful to see." He muttered to himself.

The girl licked the last bit of chocolate off the wrapper and smiled, the tears on her face already drying. She stood up and slowly walked over to Mal. The little girl, who Felix figured couldn't have been more than six or seven, lifted up her hands towards Mal.

Their traveling companion didn't even hesitate to pick the girl up and hold her in her arms. From how small she was Felix figured she couldn't weigh very much.

"Well she likes me," Mal said as they carried the girl back inside, "I guess that's a start. It doesn't look like she talks though."

Felix nodded. "Yeah, plus we need to call her something." He said.

Liam closed the door behind them. "Wait, you make it sound like we're keeping her." He said.

Mal placed the girl down on the large recliner in the living room and the girl quickly curled up into a ball and closed her eyes. "Of course we're keeping her, you want us to just leave her to be food?" she asked angrily.

Liam sighed. "Okay, I know what you're saying, but she's just another mouth to feed and she's pretty helpless from the looks of her. She'll just be a burden, I don't like it, but we'd be better off cutting her loose."

Felix shook his head. "That's not happening, she's coming with us whether you like it or not." He said.

Liam nodded. "Fine, I know when I'm out voted. But don't say I didn't warn you when your little mouse there turns into a big burden." He said.

Mal smiled. "That's exactly what we'll call her."

Liam raised an eyebrow. "Big Burden?" he asked.

Mal rolled her eyes. "My god, are all men this dumb," she murmured, "No, we'll call her Mouse."

Liam chuckled."All right, Mouse it is then. But I'll have you know that you'll be taking care of our little Mouse, I've already sacrificed my chocolate." He said.

Felix couldn't help but laugh at that. Despite being in the middle of an apocalypse, he had still found people who could make him smile.

*Hey guys Alucard1563 here. Sorry I've been gone for a while, things have been a little hectic. Life gets complicated as usual and I've been hard pressed to find time for writing. Anyway, for those of you who noticed I haven't touched this story in almost a year, ever since my editor at the time (AKA: Shikyokage742) decided to edit my first chapter and murdered it with a red pen. However thanks to a review a few months ago by a viewer named G-man and my girlfriend's love of getting me to write new things, I decided to go back and look over this story once again and in doing so I rekindled my old love for it. So starting today this story goes back on my list of things to write. Keep in mind however that I'll be juggling this project with a sequel to Welcome to Nightmare (Which I'll be starting to post soon with any luck) and my own private project, so progress may be slow at times, even reducing to a snail's pace on some occasions. I promise you however when everything is said and done that I'll have it done and my stories will be told. Sorry this chapter is kind of short compared to what I usually write, but I was short on time tonight, hope you guys can forgive me for that. Thanks to you guys for reading and supporting me,

With as much love as ever,

Alucard1563


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